My First Marathon
It all started after doing the Inverness half marathon in March this year. I thought I should run a marathon.
Looking around and being terrified of the training involved I felt 4 months should be fine. I picked Fort William for no other reason than it would be warm training than in the winter. Confident I would be fine I approached Neil who did it the year before. Initially I was going to start building up the miles but as I realised it was mostly off road and I was really struggling going past 13 miles in training l said I would not do it.
However, as July approached I began for some reason to push past the half marathon mark. With 2 weeks to go I had 20 miles in the bag en route Moray Monster trails with bruises to show for it.
I Packed myself off to Fort William and in the morning said hello to Paul and Neil. Sprayed on insect repellent and we were soon off.
Having never done a marathon it was a bit weird starting quite so slow. The first 3 miles were uphill trail running. The next 3 were still trail but flatter. At 10k I clocked 54 minutes, then we went onto a mixture of road and trail to 10 miles. Then single trail route to half marathon distance. I must honestly say I did not know what to expect as this was new territory. Sure enough by 15 miles I was really flagging. Then an isotonic drink, jelly babies and a toilet break got me fired up to 20 miles.
Thinking only 6 miles to go but then 1 mile in more hill climbs which steadily got worse with each mile. By mile 22 we were completely at an equivalent of the hill at dores X country that seemed endless. My pace really dropped and then at mile 25 my garmin had also had enough and died. I somehow managed on and I have never been so happy to see the 26 mile sign!!
However the organisers still put on a steep stony hill after this. Finally after that short hill you turned right and the timing mat awaited.
I had hoped I got in at 4.30 judging from my last time looking at my watch but I must have really slowed up as I am credited with 4.45.
Good experience and I am glad I can now say I have run a marathon and of course I will run one again!
Report by: Toks Osunrinade
Running a Marathon whilst guiding a visually impaired Runner
I ran the Fort William marathon last year. That was only my second marathon and finally decided to do it again and entered it way back in March. Literally the next day, a post by Melanie Ross on the MRR facebook page changed my race plans a bit
“Hello Moray Road Runners, I hope you don’t mind me asking this. I am a member of the 100th marathon club and one of my colleagues who has ran over 250 marathons is looking for someone to guide him round Fort William marathon. He is partially sighted and relies on people to guide home round. I have done this several times but will not be at Fort William. I knew a few of you as used to go to Moray College. So thought someone may be interested. Paul Watts is an amazing guy and would appreciate if someone could help him. He normally runs a marathon in 4.30-5.30 hours depending on the terrain/undulations. If you can either contact me or Paul directly. Thank you”
Being as we sponsor a couple of guide dogs and I’m listed as a volunteer guide (but never been called upon), it seemed like a logical thing to volunteer. If Paul was ok with a newbie guide? I did have concerns about the several narrow sections and some rough bits, but a few emails allayed my fears from bricking it to mild trepidation.
Race registration was between 07:45 and 09:15, with the race starting at 09:30. I’d arranged to meet Paul at the guest house in Fort William at 07:45 so had an early alarm set. Although the alarm wasn’t needed as I’d been awake since 4am, so maybe I was still bricking it after all. I met up with Paul and helped him get checked out of the guest house, bags loaded into my car and away for the start of the days adventure.
After getting registered we were sorting ourselves out ready for the race, when Toks came over to say hello. Toks had entered a while back, but had then talked himself out of it… that is until recently managing a 20 mile training run. So, here he is ready for his first marathon. Unfortunately that was the last I’d see of him, but safe to say he made it round and he loved the smooth flat course!!!
Being as Paul had never run with me and I’d never guided at all, we headed out for a trial run before the stampede of the start. We ran the first part of the route out from the ski centre and the first part of the hill, as I knew this would have several different surfaces and get us onto the logging road that makes up the first five or so miles. With me steering Paul round a few big puddles and obvious big stones, using the dogbone link that we were holding and talking through any obstacles or changes in road* surface. It went well without any issues, so with 1.2km practice in the bag we headed over to the start of a marathon.
We worked our way through the gaggle of runners towards the back with a couple of minutes to spare. I said hello to a couple of lads carrying backpacks and dressed in DPM fatigues. At which point one of them recognised Paul from somewhere and they bounced marathons off each other until settling on the one. Whilst the marathon tennis was going on, the other lad asked me “so is he (Paul) completely….” as the words trailed off, he pointed to his head. To which I replied “yeah, complete bonkers” before realising he was actually meaning blind. By now I’d known Paul 1hr 45min and already found out he isn’t completely blind but can see very little detail or depth, but he can see differences between colours. He also has a very sharp mind for facts and figures as well as a brilliant memory and a bonkers love for running marathons.
We’re off and start to shuffle forwards until getting some space. I keep a close eye on the timing mats, to check they are still laying flat as we don’t want a trip before even starting. Upping the pace to a slow trot into the car-park where there’s a few height differences between tarmac and gravel sections. The people around us are great, giving us a bit of space as we slow to let Paul step up or down then get going again. On the trial run we had to squeeze past a locked gate, but I spot its now open and steer us through the middle of it and out onto the wee hill of the logging road. Paul into his stride now, picking his feet up to avoid snagging any small stones that stick up. We’re weaving past a few people who are walking but I’m mostly guiding Paul onto the smoother centre of the road and avoiding any large rocks by pulling or pushing on the link and Paul instinctively moves left or right.
At the first water stop we slow down, grab a bottle from the fantastic marshals and walk a little whilst having a drink. Heading further out into the forest, the logging road becomes less used and gradually becomes a Landrover track with an increasingly overgrown central bit. Eventually the tiny gorse and brooms start to grow into trip sized bushes so I take the central section. Ploughing through the lengthening grass and small shrubs with high steps is why I’d worn my trail shoes and gaiters to hopefully keep some rubbish out. Soon it was time for the bit I’d been dreading, the single track path. Last year this was quite overgrown but someone had recently been down with a strimmer and cut back some of the bracken. We still ended up walking, with me in front, dodging the puddles and roots as best as we could. It wasn’t too long until a few runners caught us up again but nobody seemed in a hurry to pass and it wasn’t long before Paul was chatting to a Canadian lady behind us. A a big muddy puddle spanned the whole track and a few people hopped up the bank, through the heather and escaped as we tried to keep out of the deepest bit. The puddle kind of marked the end of the path and it wasn’t too far before we were dropping down towards the first road section.
On the road, it didn’t take us long to catch the runners who passed us on the single track section and it was soon time to leave the road and cause another slow train on the second narrow bit. It doesn’t last long and a careful downhill had us back on the road and quickly into Spean Bridge. We waited a few seconds for a gap in the traffic and crossed the road. On the pavement, we swapped over so Paul was on my left nearest the wall. That meant steering him round the lampposts and brambles but seemed safer than him slipping off the kerb into the road. Although that gave me a surprise close call with a sticky out camper van wing mirror! The pavement section is fairly short and then we’re off rollercoastering along the woodland path towards the Highbridge and the gradual climb up to the Commando memorial where we stopped for some water and a gel… its difficult opening things whilst running as you only have one hand free, so it would only be a couple of minutes Vs ending up a sticky mess.
It’s now a mainly single track road with passing places down towards the canal. We ran on the right hand side, with Paul nearest the verge (and a ditch to fall in if we get it wrong) and me running quite wide so cars couldn’t bomb past, until we were ready to either stop or wave them through if it was wide enough. Although we held up a few cars, I think everyone must have spotted that we were linked together and the smiles and waves probably meant they were shocked or amazed and happy to wait a few seconds. If I let Paul know about the waves, he quickly waved back too.
The halfway point is next to the small graveyard at Gairlochy, then its onto the canal path for a long stretch right along to the locks at Neptunes Staircase. Last year I ended up hating this bit! Its not difficult, really is quite beautiful and tranquil, but it seemed so monotonous after the varied terrain before it. Today however we were trotting along chatting and the Kms kept passing with a quiet beep and the 10K didn’t seem half as bad this time. As we left the canal, Paul was number crunching to work out finish times and we were wondering how close we would be to Paul’s friend Harold who we has been playing cat n mouse with, passing and re passing several times since the Highbridge path. He was on a run/walk strategy and slowly pulled away as we approached the main road crossing at the A82/A830 roundabout.
Paul took my arm and we easily made it over the first half of the road, getting stuck on the central island by lots of traffic. A car stopped a way back and we started to cross, I was keeping an eye out for cars that may have taken the left lane until we were carefully stepping up onto the pavement. The lady in the car gave us an enthusiastic wave which we returned and we were back on our way for the home stretch. The cycle path was easy going except for dodging lots of road junction marker posts. We were still catching a few runners but we were slowing down ourselves and with the trail steadily climbing from here it was looking more like a +5hrs 30mins finish.
The next forest road was well compacted and mostly runnable, but we walked some of the steeper climbs. A few more roads and paths later and we were onto the home stretch below the high wire adventure area and then the final sting in the marathon tail… big rocks on a 20 meter climb to rejoin the track that has the start/finish arch. We spent a couple of seconds getting used to the footing and ran down the road. I know there was a big crowd at the finish but I was really concentrating on keeping Paul upright. I was letting Paul know about the timing mats, so he could pick his feet up a bit more, then it was all done and we were having huge medals hung round our necks and received goodie bags. We’d made it safely round and just within 5hrs 30. I gave him a wee hug before guiding him over to a chair so we could remove the timing chips.
Sharing so much time with someone, who places their trust in you to keep them safe, them in turn pushing themselves to do things that we often take for granted made for a very special day 🙂
Report by: Neil Purdie